THIS APPLICATION IS A U.S. NATIONAL PHASE APPLICATION OF PCT INTERNATIONAL APPLICATION PCT/JP99/03503.
In recent years, automatic bread makers for home use became popular in the market. According to demands for automatic bread makers capable of making different kinds of bread, bread makers which can bake raisin bread became available.
In the case of such bread makers, the dough has conventionally been kneaded in the process shown in FIG. 9.
In a kneading process 1, a motor drives a kneading blade for 7 to 10 minutes depending on the temperature detected by a temperature sensor. To describe more specifically, dough is kneaded for 7 minutes in the kneading process 1. Then, when the temperature sensor detects that the temperature of the dough has risen to 35xc2x0 C.(the threshold temperature for kneading to stop) the kneading process 1 is terminated. If the dough does not reach the threshold temperature within 10 minutes, the kneading process 1 stops regardless. When the kneading is stopped sometime between 7 and 10 minutes, an alarm sounds to notify the user to add raisins. Kneading is suspended for 3 minutes, to allow users to add raisins. Then, the kneading process 2 starts in order to mix the raisins. The kneading process then continues for 2 minutes.
However, as has been the case with the prior art, a simple notification of the time for adding raisins is not enough, since the user may miss the alarm if he/she is not attending to the bread maker during the several seconds in which the alarm is sounding. Normally, raisins can be put into the bread maker only during a limited time slot in the kneading process. Therefore, if the user misses the alarm, he/she has missed the chance to put raisins into the bread maker, making it impossible to make raisin bread. Since the period of the kneading process depends on the ambient temperature, the time for adding raisins changes, making it difficult to know exactly when the alarm will sound.
To address the foregoing problems, the automatic bread maker of the present invention comprises:
a) a baking chamber with a heater;
b) a removable baking pan disposed in the baking chamber;
c) a kneading blade disposed inside the baking pan;
d) a motor which drives the kneading blade;
e) a controller which controls the heater and the motor;
f) an input means for inputting baking conditions; and
g) a display for displaying a cooking time or a finishing time.
The display shows
i) a time remaining before adding additional ingredients; and
ii) an actual time to add the ingredients.
The present invention allows the user to know when to add the additional ingredients and to prepare the ingredients according to the time remaining.
The display of the present invention indicates, during a predetermined period immediately after the start of the bread making cycle, the time remaining before adding additional ingredients or the actual time to add the ingredients. More specifically, the display of the present invention accurately shows an appropriate time for adding the additional ingredients for a predetermined period immediately after the start of the baking process, and then displays the time remaining before the completion of the bread making cycle or when the bread making cycle finishes. In other words, the display automatically switches back to the normal display after the user confirms when the additional ingredients are needed.
Further, the display of the present invention allows the user to confirm an exact time for adding the ingredients by operating a switch anytime during the bread making cycles.
The display of the present invention is capable of indicating when the bread making cycle finishes and when to add the additional ingredients, and the user can precisely confirm such times anytime.
Since the automatic bread maker of the present invention also includes a temperature sensor which detects the temperature of the dough in the baking pan, a period of the time between the start of the kneading process and the time to add the additional ingredients can be fixed regardless of differences in temperatures such as a room temperature.
The automatic bread maker of the present invention further includes a temperature sensor which detects the room temperature, and according to the room temperature detected by the sensor immediately after the start of the bread making cycle, selects a bread making program from a plurality of bread making programs.
The foregoing functions of the present invention allow users to successfully bake a variety of breads at home.